Apparatus for annealing and drying wire



Sept 5 c. o. BRUESTLE 2,954,459

A APPARATUS FOR ANNEALING AND DRYING WIRE FiledsePte, 1957 sSheets-Sheet 1 l o o fag l O o 0 o d/ i a Q 96 FIG.1 WT I a I 3x}; '95

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C. O. BRUESTLE APPARATUS FOR ANNEALING AND DRYING WIRE Sept. 27, 1960 3Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 6, 1957 mm T 3 mm W B 2 0, M

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APPARATUS FOR ANNEALING AND DRYING WIRE Filed Sept. 6, 1957 I 3Sheets-Sheet 5 U i 32 50 is 5a 33 40 56 g 6/ g 34 W A as 44 60 59 g /2/u A i FIG.3

l04 INVENTOR.

CARL O. BPUESTLE iinited States Patent O APPARATUS FOR ANNEALING ANDDRYING WIRE Filed Sept. 6, 1957, Ser. No. 682,343

6 Claims. 01. 219-155 The present invention relates to apparatus forannealing and drying wire and particularly to a sheave assembly for usein a wire annealing machine in which the wire is brought to annealingtemperature and to drying temperature by the passage of an electricalcurrent therethrough.

The machine is in many ways similar to that disclosed in OGradyPatent-No. 2,726,971, issued December 13, 1955, but provides a moreefficient mode of operation due to the arrangement of the sheaves orpulleys. The arrangement of the OGrady patent requires a number ofpulleys for reversing the direction of the wire which is detrimental toquality especially at the high speed at which the machine is run for thefiner wire sizes. Additionally the old machine requires a considerablespace whereas the instant machine, due to the sheave arrangement, doesnot require the reversing pulleys and may be made much more compactwhile at the same time retaining the features of preheating the wire,heating to annealing temperature, quenching and-thereafter drying.

In the present invention all of the required pulleys are mounted on twoshafts and the pulleys are assembled in such a manner that current isconducted to required ones thereof without using a complex arrangementof multiple shafts and electrical brushes.

As was stated in the OGrady patent, when wire is drawn through a die itis subjected to a certain amount of working and to restore the physicalproperties an annealing operation is requisite- In order to avoidcorrosion problems incident to the quenching it has been found that adryingstep is highly desirable since generally the wire is spooledimmediately following the annealing. Additionally it has been found bestto heat the wire in stages to the annealing temperature. This sequenceof steps is followed in the present machine utilizing the improvedarr'angement mentioned above.

It is an object of the invention to provide a simple compact apparatus.for preheating, heating, quenching and drying wire as a continuousprocess, the wire being heated by passing electrical currents throughsections thereof.

It is another object of the invention to provide a sheave or pulleyarrangement for such a machine which makes-possible the compactnessthereof and which is efiicient in conducting the current to the variouswire sections.

Other objects and features of the invention will appear when thefollowing description is considered in connection with the appendeddrawings, in which,

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of the device of my inventionillustrating the path of the wire through the machine;

Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken through the center ofthe drive shaft and showing particularly the mode of mounting thesheaves on the drive shafts and of conducting currentto certain of thesheaves;

vFig. 3 is an. enlarged cross-sectional view similar to Fig. 2, to showthe upper sheave assembly in greater detail; and

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the electrical Patented Sept. 27,1960 connections to the pulley assemblies as well as the path of thewire about the various pulleys.

Referring now to the drawings, and particularly to Figs.

2 and 3, there is shown at 10 a housing within which the various machineelements are mounted. Near the top of the housing there is a bushing orbearing and support 12 and a second similar support and bearing 14 inspaced relation to the first. Mounted in these hearings is a shaft 16which at one end carries a pulley 18 driven in any suitable manner asfor example by an electric motor. In similar manner adjacent the base ofthe housing 10 there is supplied a shaft 24 mounted in the bearingmembers 20 and 22 suitably supported by the housing 10. Shaft 24 issupplied with a pulley 26 and it will be understood that the pulleys 18and 26 are driven from the same source and operate at the same rate.

On shaft 16 three pulleys are mounted, these pulleys being designatedrespectively (reading from right to left), 52, 42 and 32, the particularmounting means being hereinafter described. In a similar manner thereare mounted on the lower shaft four pulleys designated respectively(reading from right to left), 62, 68, 76 and 82. The exact mounting willbe hereinafter described.

Referring now to Fig. 4, it will be seen that wire W from the drawingmachine is passed about pulley 62, thence upwardly around pulley 52,downwardly and about pulley 68, thence again upwardly and about pulley42, downwardly through the steam tube 90, about pulley 7'6, thenceupwardly through the water tube 88, over pulley 32, downwardly and aboutpulley 82 and thence out of the machine and to a spooling machine.

As is indicated in Fig. 4, two transformers T1 and T2 are provided, theprimaries being tapped and connected to an external source of power overconductors 100, 102, 104, 106 and 108 as shown. Current from thesecondary of transformer T1 is supplied over conductors 110 and 112 andbrushes 63 and .43 to the pulleys 62 and 42. The length of this path andthe voltage supplied are such that between pulleys 62 and 42 the wire ispreheated to a desired temperature less than the oxidation temperature.The adjustment of the voltage is of course made in consideration of theparticular wire size so that the desired temperature is attained.

The reach of wire extending between pulleys 42 and 76 is provided withcurrent from the secondary of transformer T1 through conductors 112 and110 and brushes 43 and 77, conductor 112 being common to the twocircuits described above. Since the length of wire is approximatelyone-quarter as long between pulleys 42 and 76 as between pulleys 62 and42, the wire will reach a much higher temperature. During its passagebetween the two pulleys 42 and 76 the wire is surrounded by steam whichis supplied to the tube in any suitable manner, this tube extendingupwardly from a generally cylindrical casing 70 (Fig. 2) surroundingpulley 76. The casing 70 is provided with couplings 93 and 95 whichrespectively couple the casing to the steam tube 90 and the water tube88, these tubes being suitably supported as, for example, by means ofthe brackets 91 and 97 respectively.

Current is supplied between the pulleys 76 and 32 from the secondary oftransformer T2 over conductors 100 and 114 and brushes 77 and 33.Similarly current is supplied to the wire between pulleys 32 and 82 fromthe secondary of transformer T2 over conductors 114 and and brushes 33and 83. Thus the wire after being quenched is reheated as it passes frompulley 76 to pulley 82, and is dried during the last half of its passagewhere it has emerged from the water tube 88. This reheating As has beenindicated, the wire after passing about pulley 82 passes over pulley 96and then ordinarily feeds to a spooling machine.

Referring now particularly to Fig. 3, the mode of assembling the pulleys32, 42 and 52, together with current conducting rings, on the shaft 16will be described. Adjacent the right hand bearing 14 an electricallyconductive ring 34, serving as a slip ring to conduct current to theshaft 16 from the transformer T1 previously mentioned, is fixed byanysuitable means such, for example, as the key illustrated. Aninsulating sleeve 59 is slipped over the shaft and abuts the slip ring34, this sleeve being pinned to the slip ring by means of the pin 61. Asis clearly shown in the drawings, the sleeve 59 is reduced at its outeror left hand side forming a shoulder.

Mounted on the reduced end of sleeve 59 is a metallic sleeve 46 whichthus seats against the shoulder of the sleeve 59. Mounted on themetallic sleeve 46 is the slip ring 58 which, as shown in the drawings,is pinned to the sleeve 59 by means of the pin 60. Between the metallicsleeve 46 and the shaft 16 there is an insulating sleeve 44 which at itsright hand end abuts against the left hand reduced end of the sleeve 59.

Mounted on the sleeve 46 adjacent the left hand side of the slip ring 58is a sleeve or bushing of insulating material designated at 54, thissleeve being pinned to the slip ring 58 by means of the pin 60previously mentioned. Also mounted on the metallic sleeve 46 is anotherbushing or sleeve 48 which has a reduced diameter portion at itsright-hand end, on which the hub portion of the pulley 52 is mounted.The pulley 52 is pinned for rotation with the members 48 and 54 by meansof the pin 56 which extends through pulley 52 and into blind bores inthe sleeves 48 and 54.

Mounted on the shaft 16 is a sleeve 38, the right-hand end of which isso reduced that it extends within the metallic sleeve 46 and abutsagainst the inner insulating sleeve 44. Sleeve 38 thus provides a groovebetween the left-hand end of sleeve 48 and its .own body. In this groovepulley 42 is mounted, this pulley being provided with a slightlyenlarged bore at its right-hand side thus seating firmly on theleft-hand end of sleeve 46. Pulley 42 is pinned to rotate with thesleeves 48 and 38 by means of a pin 50 which extends through the pulleyand into .the two sleeves mentioned.

Mounted directly on the shaft 16 is the left-hand pulley 32 which ispinned to the sleeve 38 by means of the pin 40. As will be seen, due tothe parts being pinned together as described, all of the parts mentionedabove will rotate with the shaft 16. Moreover, a direct metallic path isformed from the brush 33 through slip ring 34 and shaft 16 to the pulley32 and another direct metallic path is formed extending from the brush43 through slip ring 58 and sleeve 46 to pulley 42. Pulley 52 iscompletely insulated from the slip rings and shaft by virtue of itsmounting on the shoulder of the insulating sleeve 48.

The lower pulley structure is similar to that described above. However,in this instance the structure is somewhat less complicated since themetallic sleeve 46 is unnecessary, this being due to the fact that threeof the pulleys are connected to a common electrical terminal and thefourth pulley is completely insulated. Thus, referring to Fig. 2, itwill be seen that pulleys 62, 76 and 82 are directly mounted onthe shaftand are spaced apart by means of the insulating'sleeves 78, 72 and 64.Additionally it will be seenthat the sleeve 78 is provided with ashoulder at its left-hand end on which the pulley 68 is mounted.

In this lower sheave assembly, a slip ring 86 is provided, the slip ringbeing keyed to the shaft in the manner shown. Cooperating with this slipring is a brush 63 which appears in-the schematic'diagram of Fig. 4 asthree brushes designated .63, 77 .and :83 for the purpose of conveniencein illustration. The actual physical arrangernent is, however, thatshown in Fig. 2. The pulley 4 assembly described above is fixed forrotation with the shaft 24, this being done in any suitable manner, asfor example by means of key fastening pulley 62 to shaft 24 and pins 84,and 74 and 66 fastening the various sleeves and pulleys to pulley 62 forrotation therewith.

It will be seen that due to the arrangement just above described brush63 is electrically connected through the slip ring 86 and shaft 24 topulleys 62, 76 and 82, While pulley 68 is completely insulated; Thus, bymeans of the pulley assemblies described the electrical circuitsdescribed in connection with Fig. 4 are established and the wire isheated to the required temperature in the preheating, annealing anddrying zones.

Although the pulleys or sheaves have been described and are shown in thedrawings as being solid, they may, in order to assure of the properwearing qualities of their driving surfaces and to provide for highlypolished cylindrical surfaces, be made with replaceable bands in themanner described in my copending application, Serial No. 685,151, filedSeptember 20, 1957, now abandoned.

Reference to Fig. 1 will show that the wire path through the annealingmechanism when the present invention is utilized is relatively short anddirect and that therefore the space occupied by the annealing mechanismis rela-. tively small. As will be seen, the wire enters from thedrawing machine near the upper left-hand side of the housing 10 and ispassed over a pulley 94 from which it passes beneath the pulley 62,thence upwardly and slightly to theleft, as seen in Fig. 2 and overpulley 52, thence downwardly and around pulley 68, upwardly over pulley42, downwardly through the steam tube and about pulley 76, thenceupwardly through the water tube 88, through the slot in the wiper blade99 (suitably fixed to ,the housing 28), about pulley 32, thencedownwardly around pulley 82, upwardly and over pulley 96 (supportedexternally on the housing) and thence to the spooling machine.

Although I have described a preferred embodiment of my invention it willbe understood that other embodiments may readily be devised. I wishtherefore to be limited not by the foregoing description but solely bythe appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a wire annealing device of the type wherein the wire iselectrically heated in sections to annealing temperature, quenched anddried, in combination, a pair of shafts extending substantially parallelto each other in spaced relation in a common plane, a plurality ofsheaves mounted on each shaft and means including slip rings forapplying different voltages across selected pairs of said sheaves onsaid respective shafts, whereby wire passing successively over saidsheaves has predetermined currents passing therethrough to heat it todesired temperatures in the various sections between said sheaves andthe wire passes to and from said sheaves in two parallel planes,tandwherein four sheaves are mounted on one of said shafts, means connectingthree of said sheaves .directly to said shaft and to said slip ring andwherein three sheaves are mounted .on the second of said shafts, one ofsaid sheaves being connected to a slip ring and a second beingelectrically connected to a sleeve, said sleeve having a second slipring mounted thereon.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein a section of wire between asheave on one of said shafts and a sheave on the second of said shaftspasses through a .tube and wherein said tube is fil-led with aprotective atmosphere.

3. Adevice according to claim 2 further characterized in that thesection of a wire between the second sheave and a third sheaveon thefirst said shaft extends through a tube containing a quenching medium.

4. A device in accordance with claim 1 characterized in that a sectionof wire extending from the first of said sheaves on the first said shaftabout the first sheaveon the second said shaft, the second sheave on thefirst said shaft and the second sheave on the second said shaft isconnected in series connection with a variable source of electricalvoltage, whereby the wire may be heated to a desired temperature, asection of wire extending from said second sheave on said second shaftto the third sheave on the first said shaft is connected in series withsaid source of variable voltage, the section of wire from said thirdsaid sheave on said first shaft to said third sheave on said secondshaft is connected in series with a second source of variable voltageand the section of wire from said third sheave on said second shaft tosaid fourth sheave on said first shaft is connected in series with saidsecond source of variable voltage.

5. In a wire annealing device of the type wherein the wire iselectrically heated in section to annealing temperature, quenched anddried, in combination, a pair of shafts extending parallel to each otherin spaced relation in a common plane, a slip ring fixed to the firstsaid shaft, a sheave of conductive material mounted on said shaft forrotation therewith, an insulating sleeve mounted on said shaft adjacentsaid sheave, said sleeve having a reduced diameter portion at the endremote from said sheave, a second sheave mounted on said reduceddiameter portion of said sleeve and insulated from said shaft, a secondsleeve mounted on said shaft adjacent said second sheave, a third sheavemounted on said shaft adjacent the end of said sleeve remote from saidsecond sheave, a third insulating sleeve mounted on said shaft adjacentsaid third sheave, a fourth sheave mounted on said shaft andelectrically connected thereto at the end of said third sleeve and meansfixing said first sheave to said first sleeve, said second sheave tosaid first and second sleeves, said third sheave to said second andthird sleeves and said fourth sheave to said third sleeve.

6. In a wire annealing device of the type wherein the wire iselectrically heated in sections to annealing temperature, quenched anddried, in combination, a pair of shafts extending parallel to each otherin spaced relation in a common plane, a slip ring fixed to the firstsaid shaft, an insulating sleeve mounted on said shaft adjacent saidslip ring, means fixing said sleeve for rotation with said slip ring,said sleeve-having a reduced diameter portion at the end remote fromsaid slip ring, a second sleeve mounted on said shaft adjacent saidfirst sleeve, said second sleeve having an external diameter equal tothe external diameter of said reduced portion of said first sleeve, ametallic sleeve mounted on said second sleeve and extending over thereduced portion of said first sleeve, a second slip ring mounted on saidmetallic sleeve, a third insulating sleeve mounted on said metallicsleeve adjacent said second slip ring, means fixing said first and thirdsleeves and said second slip ring for rotation with said first sleeve, afourth sleeve mounted on said metallic sleeve adjacent-said thirdsleeve, said fourth sleeve having a reduced portion adjacent said thirdsleeve, a first sheave mounted on said reduced portion of said fourthsleeve, said mounting insulating said sheave from said shaft and saidmetallic sleeve, means fixing said first sheave for rotation with saidthird and fourth sleeves, a fifth sleeve mounted on said shaft, saidfifth sleeve having a reduced diameter portion, said reduced diameterportion being of the same external diameter as said second sleeve andextending within the end of said metallic sleeve, a second sheavemounted between said fourth and fifth sleeves, said second sheave havinga portion of its hub of a greater diameter than the remainder, saidgreater diameter portion seating on said metallic sleeve therebyelectrically connecting said second sheave through said metallic sleeveto said second slip ring, means fixing said second sheave to said fourthand fifth sleeves for rotation therewith, a third sheave mounted on saidshaft adjacent the end of said fifth sleeve remote from said secondsheave and means fixing said third sheave for rotation with said fifthsleeve.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,591,468 Clouse July 6, 1926 2,019,555 Wood et al Nov. 5, 19352,064,589 Convers Dec. 15, 1936 2,283,798 Delano May 19, 1942 2,589,283OGrady Mar. 18, 1952 2,658,982 Rendel Nov. 10, 1953 2,726,971 OGradyDec. 13, 1955

